Various machines such as robots use articulate joints for achieving a desired movement of a working end of the machine. JP2015-174208A discloses a robot including links provided with transceivers and articulate joints mechanically connecting adjoining links. In such applications, a cable such as an optical fiber cable is required to be passed through such articulate joints. However, the cable is often unable to withstand excessive bending so that a certain amount of slack is given to each cable.
This problem is particularly acute in the field of robots which are often provided with a large number of links and articulate joints. Each link is provided with one or more transceivers, and signals are required to be exchanged between these transceivers across the articulate joints mechanically connecting the adjoining links to each other. Therefore, it is important to ensure the integrity of the optical fiber cable at each articulate joint.